Decision summaries for February were released by the Overseas Investment Office which showed Ingka Investments Forest Assets NZ Ltd and Ingka Investments Management NZ Ltd were granted consent, under the special forestry (one-off purchase) test to purchase 729ha at Cone Forest in Three Stones Rd.
The land, which was sold by The Cone Forestry Company Ltd and The Cone Forest Partnership, comprised existing forestry of about 648ha which was managed as a commercial rotational forest.
Harvesting of the existing forest was likely to be within the next three years, and the forest would be replanted. The remainder of the land would be unplanted and was mainly native bush.
It was also granted consent to acquire 235.9ha of forestry at Alfredton, in the Tararua district, for $4.8m and a 305ha of forestry at Poroti in Northland for $4.8m.
Ingka has also been buying considerable farmland throughout the country, including in the South, over the past several years to convert to forestry
Meanwhile, forestry company Port Blakely has been granted consent to buy a deer farm in South Canterbury for an undisclosed price. The 484.7ha Kakahu property, which was used to farm red deer breeding hinds, was sold by Great Southern Deer Farms Ltd.
The land adjoined 4513.7ha of Port Blakely’s existing Geraldine Forest and the company intended to establish and maintain about 345ha of rotation forest by the end of September 2026. The transaction was entered into before August 16, 2022 and so the old special forestry test applied.
Cloudy Bay Vineyards was granted consent to buy a 39.6ha property at Sugarloaf Drive, Mount Pisa, to plant chardonnay and pinot noir vines. It was sold by Mervyn Nelson Shaw and Louise Margaret Shaw as trustees of the Seaview Farm Trust for $2.5m.
Cloudy Bay was an established New Zealand winemaker, well-known for its sauvignon blanc wine. It was ultimately 66% owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, a multinational luxury brand conglomerate, and 34% owned by Diageo plc, a United-Kingdom-based alcohol beverage company.
The decision said the main benefits to New Zealand were likely to include increased export receipts, the creation of jobs and capital investment.
